[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Freaky Fana Friday, where every Friday we take a little time and explore some of the freaks of nature from around the planet.

[SPEAKER_00]: We cherish so deeply.

[SPEAKER_00]: So please jump aboard and let's explore the wilds together.

[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back to Freaky Fana Friday.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm the Great and Peaceful Mystery and I'm Jay.

[SPEAKER_02]: And today, we're going to talk about a really cool North American animal.

[SPEAKER_02]: One of our page grown members got a picture of one in Ohio.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, wow.

[SPEAKER_02]: And DNR says that they're not back yet.

[SPEAKER_03]: We'll lie the action shot.

[SPEAKER_03]: So we're going to talk about fishers, fishers.

[SPEAKER_03]: I know some fishers that live right now in the road from us.

[SPEAKER_03]: They're nice.

[SPEAKER_02]: So the American Fisher.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it's a small cat like animal that's actually related to.

[SPEAKER_03]: Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, a mongoose.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, musklets musklets.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yep, so it's in the Weasel family.

[SPEAKER_03]: Weasels.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's what I was trying to reach for.

[SPEAKER_02]: Wolverines, Weasels, badgers, more like otters, you know, and it's a whole thing.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hmm.

[SPEAKER_02]: So martens, which if everybody's interested in episode of martens, are separate, then fishers.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_02]: They share some habitat and people get confused a lot.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it looks similar.

[SPEAKER_02]: Kind of their big weasels.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, fair.

[SPEAKER_02]: So just like a, you know, see an order in a mate kind of go by if they were similar sizes, they'd be kind of hard to tell them apart, which ones which it's like those fish that have the different fins, are the fins, the different scales and that's how you tell them apart.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's not that bad.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_02]: So fishers are small cat lake mammals, native to North America.

[SPEAKER_02]: These are little carnivores and they are not closely related to cats or in canids at all.

[SPEAKER_03]: Muscat Day.

[SPEAKER_03]: They sound stinky, all the musculines.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, they have musquins.

[SPEAKER_03]: I know.

[SPEAKER_02]: So like, skunks, which are also a member console.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, right.

[SPEAKER_02]: The weasels.

[SPEAKER_02]: I've had a weasel on a trap.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I've had, hey, oh, let's see other one.

[SPEAKER_02]: Fair it.

[SPEAKER_02]: Not a fair it.

[SPEAKER_02]: Mink, mink, mink and traps.

[SPEAKER_02]: And they stink to high heaven.

[SPEAKER_03]: And mink, or mean, aren't they?

[SPEAKER_02]: No, it was like actively trying.

[SPEAKER_02]: We let it go away from our property.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: But it was like trying to pull the center.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was a live trap.

[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, it was, yeah, they're mean, but musculates have that.

[SPEAKER_02]: We look at some of the famous members of their family, you know, Wolverines and, and badgers and everything like that, noters.

[SPEAKER_02]: They're not the calmest animals.

[SPEAKER_02]: Badgers.

[SPEAKER_02]: We don't need no stinking badgers.

[SPEAKER_02]: The closest living relative of the Fisher is the American Martin.

[SPEAKER_02]: Fisher's however, are much larger than Martin's.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so that's the first thing.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_02]: So different colors.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, oh wait, you just said at the top that we'd send we got a picture of one.

[SPEAKER_03]: One of our Patreon members?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yep, they got on our trail camera.

[SPEAKER_03]: Wow, in Ohio.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I've never seen a fisher though.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, I've seen fishers and martens in Michigan where the cabin is.

[SPEAKER_03]: Let me look when I'm real quick.

[SPEAKER_02]: And why there's just now starting to work their way back to Ohio.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's because of one of the freaky phone effects.

[SPEAKER_02]: Is there one of their favorite praise?

[SPEAKER_02]: Hmm.

[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, these, these members of the Weasel family are about the size of a domestic cat.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_02]: They're pretty long for their weight.

[SPEAKER_02]: They can be up about four feet long, but you know a lot of that's tail.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, yeah, but they weigh up to about 13 to 15 pounds.

[SPEAKER_02]: These are pretty cool.

[SPEAKER_02]: So like the size of, you know, a medium to large house cat.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, gosh.

[SPEAKER_03]: Some of them get yeah, they look pretty big.

[SPEAKER_03]: They're they're very long for a house cat.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, but they're very fluffy.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, so they don't weigh as much as they look like they weigh.

[SPEAKER_03]: Gotcha, like a child.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, awesome.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like many members of the musculid family, pictures have long, extremely slender bodies with very, very long tails.

[SPEAKER_02]: They're for a very thin color from season to season between a very dark black to a modeled brown.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then one other coat is a very dark brown and even a really dark black.

[SPEAKER_02]: In the summer though, they're coat lightens up and it comes somewhat spotty and even light in areas.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's odd, but no, a lot of musclids do this.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like winter camouflage or something.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like there's species of weasel that completely change color.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, they drop a fur and turn white in the winter and then they're black in the summer.

[SPEAKER_03]: How interesting.

[SPEAKER_03]: Just changed the fur.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, I see something.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, it was late at night.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think it was last week or a couple weeks ago.

[SPEAKER_03]: I was driving outside of Ada.

[SPEAKER_03]: uh...

and i seen something white dart across the road and i thought it was like a white house cat but it had the big bushy tail so i thought maybe it was a fox but i tried to back up it was at night time and i seen it real quick i think we're using the white thing no no it wasn't like that uh...

not in that area but uh...

no it was definitely like a little cat or fox but i i seen it and like the peripherals of like you know your headlights just reach off the edge of the skunk [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I didn't even think about that.

[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't even think about it because I tried to back up and we have like seven species of skunk in Ohio.

[SPEAKER_02]: Huh, okay.

[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't even think about that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we should do that all the way around.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yep.

[SPEAKER_03]: But it was all like always he was white.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, big white stripes skunk.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hmm, they even think about it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Dang it, you're probably right.

[SPEAKER_02]: These predators are somewhat small, but they are surprisingly fierce.

[SPEAKER_02]: And they have different adaptations that help them hunt and survive.

[SPEAKER_02]: So this is where we get some of the freaky stuff with them.

[SPEAKER_02]: Is there prey?

[SPEAKER_02]: So one of their favorite prey sources, and they're one of the only animals in North America that take advantage of this prey source besides humans are porcupines.

[SPEAKER_02]: Wow, so these carnivores are one of the only species of animal that specialize in killing the North American porcupine.

[SPEAKER_02]: Mm.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's just these are speed and cutting techniques to capture these prickly prey.

[SPEAKER_02]: Porcupine hunts can last as long as two and a half hours.

[SPEAKER_02]: Wow, towering the porcupine out and making it make a mistake so we can either under it to bite its neck.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's like, that's a lot of effort to put in for one kill, but it's a kill about their same size.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, if not for a lot of four points can be 50, 60 pounds.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: So if you're 13 to 15 pounds, you're killing an animal that's three or four times your body weight.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's a lot of a protein and there's none, there's no other predators really taking advantage of it.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's very rarely like a mountain lion or a wolf, you know, do something with a body weight.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's just not worth it for a lot of the big predators.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, because they usually see them with their face full of quills.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, they are also known as a farmer's bane, like many other predators, even frequently blame fishers for dead livestock and pets.

[SPEAKER_02]: While these animals occasionally do hunt chickens and ducks, it is extremely unlikely for them to attack pets.

[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, but yeah, where there's still like high levels of fishers or fishers coming back, people are blaming them for killing dogs and cats and stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, wow.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's just not saying that it can't be them.

[SPEAKER_02]: It'd be very, very rare.

[SPEAKER_02]: But the frequency they're getting blamed, it's probably somebody else.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like that, how that Australia blame the, the, the, the, dilacy for everything while dogs.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, uh, scientists in this areas that study it is, when I'm not, believe the pet owners to blame fishers are probably more caused by coyotes and bobcats.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hmm, yeah, that make more sense.

[SPEAKER_02]: And bobcats, notorious for having a problem with domestic dogs.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, not friends.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, any questions about those two things so far?

[SPEAKER_03]: Now that's pretty loud.

[SPEAKER_02]: So these guys are four-inch creatures.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's another reason why they're not coming back to Ohio and with any great speed.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we don't have any four-inch slept.

[SPEAKER_02]: These mammals only live in heavily dense forest areas.

[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, they avoid forests with less than 50% tree coverage.

[SPEAKER_03]: So like the forest floor or what like canopy canopy.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay That's because these mammals live in large trees to build their dens.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: They're great climbers and jumpers So yeah, we probably there's in our area.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's not a whole lot of habitat form.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, no, there's nothing here for them It would be very rare for them to be here.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and there's not the like prey source So that's what I've talked about earlier with the they are dependent on porcupines, especially in the winter [SPEAKER_02]: So we don't have a decent population of porcupines seeing going to find them.

[SPEAKER_02]: You ain't going to find fishers.

[SPEAKER_02]: But they are just now coming back to the edges of Ohio up and around Toledo and up and around New York do we being seen also Northwest and Northeast points.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they're northern species So they're just now which are the areas that we see porcupines in Ohio yeah Porky pines are and like hooking a hills area too and stuff like that Well, they're gonna dance that yeah, they're more rare like a sporadic here.

[SPEAKER_02]: I've seen I when I live down there.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think I've seen one [SPEAKER_03]: I only have ever seen one and we weren't looking for it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's not like Michigan where every tree and in it wild too like Northwest part of Ohio, you know, Indiana, North East part of Ohio, you're literally, you know, a Scotio way from New York.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's just wild that those two states are almost a state away from each other.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's because Ohio's four hours wide for a half-tall anymore still on the eastern time zone explain that barely all But I'm saying we all are even Indiana half of Indiana's in the eastern time zone all of Indiana's no, it's just half Oh, is it?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I just switched at the Illinois Indiana board now.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like somewhere in mid-Indian.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's weird, but still at the net never made sense to me What's because it's in the podcast for it?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, just a distance [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's some parts that are a lot slimmer when those time zones in the whole eastern coast.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's whatever.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think that's true, but I'll measure it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Another show.

[SPEAKER_02]: The vast majority of fishers live in the forest area.

[SPEAKER_02]: These are a few different types of forests that fishers successfully hunt surviving.

[SPEAKER_02]: Their favorite forest though is pine and cold [SPEAKER_02]: They also lived in mixed force as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's just not their favorite.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_02]: Despite the fact that they live in relatively cold region, these mammals do prefer, are, this, I'm sorry, despite the fact they live in relatively cold regions.

[SPEAKER_02]: These mammals prefer habitats without extremely heavy snowfall, because they're short bodies.

[SPEAKER_02]: That makes sense.

[SPEAKER_02]: You can only find fishers in North America as they do not live anywhere else in the world.

[SPEAKER_02]: Historically, these predators were all too much of Canada and most of the northern United States.

[SPEAKER_02]: Nowadays, humans have removed them from much of their southern range and have spotty populations.

[SPEAKER_02]: So they are on, in some other areas, they are on the come back.

[SPEAKER_02]: So they are kind of what the other shows we do.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, cryptids and some areas.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I can see that.

[SPEAKER_02]: They haven't seen a Fisher.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you can picture them, you know, four, four and a half feet long.

[SPEAKER_02]: But if I didn't know, you see a weasel that's four and a half feet long running across the road.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I wouldn't know what that was.

[SPEAKER_03]: Uh, so yeah, even if I seem like I make her weasel there.

[SPEAKER_03]: So they don't see them very often.

[SPEAKER_02]: Weasels you really don't see.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the only time I've ever seen weasels which we have black tail weasels here, I can't remember which weasel species we have this common.

[SPEAKER_03]: Is they come up to you at like Indian like, oh, why do we call?

[SPEAKER_03]: Why do we use weasels like a negative word when describing someone?

[SPEAKER_02]: That's like because they weasel their way in the things.

[SPEAKER_02]: So like when farmers were building, [SPEAKER_02]: live stockpins and the weasels would find a way in no matter what you could do yeah keep them out okay that makes portions like the same week they weasel their way in yes wheels look like they don't have bones if you ever watch videos of like they don't do mazes uh-huh they look like a snake really uh-huh they're just a fur-covered snake nice I want to start bringing that back you'll a weasel [SPEAKER_02]: Mink are a very similar in aspect all the musculids are pretty pretty flexible animals.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, little like snake like when it they need to be.

[SPEAKER_02]: Any questions about fishers?

[SPEAKER_03]: No, I've never seen one.

[SPEAKER_03]: I really didn't know.

[SPEAKER_03]: They see their status.

[SPEAKER_03]: I forgot to look that up for Ohio.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah, let's look that.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, they're not existence, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: So, expropriate.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think they're still [SPEAKER_03]: two come across one the wild i think i don't are they dangerous to people longs don't mess with them i don't think they are so like any other animal really i guess that has a bite and i mean they could kill you oh yeah i believe they could kill you if they try yeah if you got an a tussle with one let's see this year [SPEAKER_02]: Officers are making a comeback to Ohio after being expated in the mid-1800s.

[SPEAKER_02]: Wow, they were turning from populated at neighbor and states like Pennsylvania, New York.

[SPEAKER_02]: Most sightings do occur in North East Ohio.

[SPEAKER_02]: Evidence of reproduction has been found as a pregnant female was found in Astrobooia, accounting.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, just maybe there is a population coming back.

[SPEAKER_02]: The first one was seen in Ohio in 2013.

[SPEAKER_02]: Since then, there has been 40 confirmed sightings in the Northeast Ohio states.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: So they're on their way back.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, fishers.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, good.

[SPEAKER_03]: If you haven't seen a fisher at home, it's glad Google won.

[SPEAKER_03]: They're pretty cool, old can animals.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to the Ohio State website.

[SPEAKER_02]: I want to see what they're listed as, because I didn't tell you they're listed there.

[SPEAKER_03]: They kind of remind me of like Bearcats, a little bit.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_03]: They were called Fishercats?

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, okay, well, that makes sense.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, because Bearcats also very cool, unique being in the wrongs.

[SPEAKER_03]: Binterongs, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: They look like those, but Bearcats have like the more of [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, kind of like an old man face.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's just not how I describe it.

[SPEAKER_03]: It just looks like it would it would play an older character in a cartoon movie.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, with animals as the main cast, the barricades would be like the old sage and then the Fisher itself would probably be a young adult.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm almost there.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's that's my casting skills.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's how I would see it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Short tailed weasels is the weasel we have.

[SPEAKER_02]: One of the weasels we have.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I've never really seen too many musculids in the wild.

[SPEAKER_03]: Is up, is a mus, a musk, a musk, a musk, a musk, a little.

[SPEAKER_03]: No, I don't it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, because I could have seen one there.

[SPEAKER_03]: Those are just big rodents.

[SPEAKER_02]: Long tailed weasels too.

[SPEAKER_02]: Least weasels.

[SPEAKER_03]: We have several weasels species.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, that's hope I kind of hope I see one someday.

[SPEAKER_03]: Can you hold it?

[SPEAKER_03]: Can you have fishers as pets?

[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, I don't.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you're probably with some kind of permitting.

[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe it's like a reintroduction, uh, permit or something like that, or now.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't find it.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't know what their list has in Ohio.

[SPEAKER_02]: They don't exist.

[SPEAKER_02]: They just don't exist.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, our websites are incredibly hard to navigate and understand.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's been fishers.

[SPEAKER_02]: Huh?

[SPEAKER_03]: Learn about a new animal.

[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know this existed before.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, I've been the Great and Peaceful Mystery.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I've been J.

[SPEAKER_03]: We'll catch you next week.

[SPEAKER_03]: I stay warm this winter.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: The winter is coming.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Bye.